Chapter 37
Chapter 37
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 37
Chapter Title: Kaleidoscope
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Seoul's awakener-exclusive sparring room.
Kahn ran there while I flew.
"What do you think? I rented it out for the whole day."
"Looks good."
It was a pretty spacious area. A place for awakeners to spar, and they even run private ones like this.
Standing next to Kahn was the secretary-like person I'd seen that morning.
"You, get out."
"Mr. Kahn, you absolutely must not kill him."
The secretary earnestly warned Kahn. She explained that if the fight got out of hand, it would cause problems even for her.
"I got it, so get out. You gonna get caught in the crossfire?"
The secretary headed up to the second floor, where she could oversee the entire sparring room at a glance.
Tang.
As he stomped his front paw, a spear rose from the ground. It was the Evil Horn Spear he'd shown that morning.
I snapped my fingers to summon my grimoire.
"A mage? No mana presence, so I thought you were a rogue type."
"I'll go easy on you too."
'Go easy, huh.'
It was a phrase I'd never heard before. Come to think of it, that grimoire looked familiar. Where had I seen it...?
"Ah, that's the Cosmic Grimoire?"
I remembered now.
The ownerless grimoire in Korea. I figured the US had already snatched it up since they were eyeing it, but it looked like an owner had finally appeared in Korea.
"Please attack slowly."
Officially, the Cosmic Grimoire's owner was listed as Iru Ri.
Oddly enough, Iru Ri had become a mage with two grimoires.
This was a measure to hide Moon Byul's existence in Korea. Eventually, the truth would have to come out, but with an owner now, the US couldn't touch it right away.
Since it had an owner, the US could no longer interfere with the Cosmic Grimoire.
Of course, I'd have to reveal Moon Byul's identity during the verification process later, but since the US hadn't pushed afterward, we'd left it as is.
And Kahn was a spear-wielding climber, so he had no interest in grimoires and wasn't tuned into the political situation.
"Here I go!"
He gripped the spear tightly and closed the distance with a short leap.
'Start with a light jab.'
He thrust the firmly gripped Evil Horn Spear toward Moon Byul.
Shuk shuk shuk.
Moon Byul, floating lightly in the air, dodged Kahn's thrusts like a slippery loach, as if pulled by invisible strings.
"This much is easy, right? Speeding up!"
His spear thrusts accelerated faster and faster. What had been visible jabs quickened until they were invisible to ordinary eyes.
Moon Byul's movements matched, his loach-like evasion splitting into multiple afterimages.
"That'd kill if it hit, you know?"
"Won't kill if it doesn't hit! Hahaha!"
Now basic thrusts.
As his grip shifted, shockwaves erupted from the space the spear pierced.
"Hm?"
The shockwave grazed Moon Byul, who had dodged by a hair's breadth, and the defensive magic coating his body bounced off with repulsive force.
"Didn't even touch."
"It did touch."
"No damage."
Kahn laughed happily. Moon Byul dodged, Kahn pursued.
Like a hunter chasing prey.
But Kahn's attacks didn't land after that.
"Just gonna dodge?"
"Shall I try a little?"
When Kahn taunted the evasive Moon Byul cheaply, he obliged.
Snap.
As Moon Byul, weaving and dodging, snapped his fingers, magic circles appeared all around.
Attacks flew one by one from the magic circles scattered everywhere.
Ziiing.
'Laser?'
I'd assumed he was a movement-specialized mage from his godlike maneuvers, but suddenly lasers came flying.
Kahn predicted the attack paths with near-ki-like senses and dodged.
"This much?"
To Kahn's eyes, they weren't that fast, so he taunted Moon Byul.
"No way."
The fixed magic circles shifted positions erratically, moving in unpredictable patterns.
Roar.
Clang.
Fireballs and ice orbs followed the lasers.
"What...? Huh?"
Mages specialized their talents to the extreme, maximizing their signature magic.
But this guy used multiple elements.
Boom!
Now iron balls flew too.
Kahn panicked for the first time. He couldn't pin down Moon Byul's magic genre.
"Damn it!"
He swung the spear wide to bat away all attacks.
"This is cheating."
"Haven't even started."
"Same here!"
He concentrated mana at the spear tip.
Ku-gu-gung.
The ground trembled around Kahn.
"You know spears are throwing weapons?"
"Go easy."
Seeing Moon Byul quip back, Kahn thought he could push harder. Still got room to spare.
"Hup!"
Gathering his breath, he hurled the spear at him.
Pang!
With a sonic boom, the Evil Horn Spear flew at invisible speed toward Moon Byul.
Snap.
Moon Byul created a massive magic circle covering his body to block Kahn's attack.
"?"
Contrary to expectations, the spear got sucked into the magic circle.
"That's a shock."
Space magic too? What a monster.
The same magic circle appeared in the center of the sparring room, and the emerging spear embedded into the floor.
Kwang!
With an explosion like a bomb, the Evil Horn Spear cratered the floor—made of mana stone alloy for awakener spars—cracking it in places.
"At least block it properly!"
Kahn was annoyed that Moon Byul hadn't blocked but deflected his attack.
"......"
Moon Byul said nothing.
'China's number one, right?'
His speed and power were beyond human.
But he's a climber.
Moon Byul wasn't surprised by Kahn but by his own abilities.
'On par with China's top ranker... or above.'
Truth was, he still had plenty in reserve. Kahn wasn't bloodlusted, but he was sweating, so not slacking either.
'I've been underrating myself.'
He hadn't planned to lose easily but hadn't gone all out either.
It wasn't unreasonable to underestimate—no benchmarks.
Who declares themselves the strongest without comparison?
He'd figured top-tier at best.
"Not holding back, right? More?"
"Of course!"
The spear flew back to Kahn's hand like it had a mind of its own.
"Round two?"
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Bang! Kwang! Paang!
Xiao Hao couldn't believe the scene she was watching.
'Kahn's getting pushed like that?'
Kahn was a top-five climber worldwide.
Yet here he was, toyed with by a 17th-floor rookie.
"This can't be real!"
Having watched Kahn for so long, she knew. He absolutely wasn't going easy.
His body drenched in sweat, while that Moon Byul guy hadn't broken a drop. (Of course, the dummy doesn't sweat.)
No matter how annoying mages were, this was 1v1.
Team vs. team, maybe, but mages rarely dominated martial artists in solo duels.
And this mage had no genre limits. Flight, evasion, defense, offense, space—zero common threads.
'How can someone like that exist?'
It felt like facing Korea's secret weapon. Xiao Hao's worldview twisted.
She'd firmly believed Kahn would conquer the tower someday...
Her conviction began to waver.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "How much time left?"
"About six hours now."
Unlike the start, the boss mob didn't toy with So Seori's party forever—it bounced them quick.
They'd already burned 18 of 24 hours.
"Ugh, this gimmick sucks."
No one said it, but the party's stamina was low.
Everyone grumbled as they entered the igloo.
"Peng! Peng!"
The crowned penguin boss stomped and scowled at the party.
Probably pissed at us keep coming back tireless. Penguins don't tire, though.
"We're pissed too."
The igloo interior had become a hall of mirrors.
"We doing it this time?"
"About time."
Everyone took positions and charged.
So Seori breathed fire; the other two targeted the boss, minus Iru Ri.
"Pehng!"
The penguin zipped around godlike speeds, mocking them.
The party, battered by blizzards on the climb, was exhausted—but the penguin? Fresh.
Fail now, repeat daily. No way—they gave their all.
Slip.
"Peng?"
"Now!"
The penguin slipped on the mirror-slick igloo wall.
Song Hyun pulled the trigger without missing a beat.
Tang!
But the penguin recovered, dodging the bullet by a hair.
"Argh, so close! My shift's over!"
Baek Isu wailed.
Poof.
"Hyun-ah!"
The penguin bounced the ranged dealer Song Hyun first.
"Ruri, now!"
Iru Ri prepared her cast quietly in the corner.
"Haaah!"
Poof.
Baek Isu, swinging her greatsword, got poofed too.
No clue the criteria, but penguin always bounced in order: Song Hyun, Baek Isu, Iru Ri, So Seori.
Dodged playfully pre-first bounce, but any threat? Same sequence, lame wooden sword pokes.
A small magic circle dense with runes formed before Iru Ri.
Couldn't cover the igloo max size—one solution considered.
The magic from Moon Byul: Wife Laser, for short.
"Ready!"
Poof.
Iru Ri finished and got bounced.
'Next is me.'
Her delayed circle fired a laser.
"Peng?"
Penguin dodged the laser casually, flew at So Seori.
Invisible to others, but dragon eyes caught penguin's blur.
Her pupils chased not the penguin—but the laser past it.
Ting.
"Peng, heading out first."
The laser hit the kaleidoscope mirror wall, reflecting.
Ting.
Reflected laser hit another wall, reflected again.
Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting.
No matter how fast the penguin.
"Faster than light?"
Poof.
Inside the igloo: penguin and infinitely bouncing laser at light speed.
Spell fades sans caster? Fine. The light would soon fill the igloo.
Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting.
"Pehng!"
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ You have satisfied the clear conditions for the 62nd floor. Congratulations. Korea Tower's highest floor has been updated!